Editorial: Democracy is the only way

A chill ran through many of us on the 1st of August: How would the tragic and sudden death of southern Sudanese leader Dr. John affect the fragile peace in the country? And what would be the impact on the situation in Northern Uganda?

Fortunately, it looks like the successor, Mr. Salva Kiir, is capable of taking over Garang’s big shoes. The good news is that Mr. Kiir is said to be a democratic and inclusive leader.

That is exactly what the whole of Sudan - and Uganda as well - needs: Strong, democratic structures, which all leaders understand and respect, and which allows the people right from the grassroots to participate in the development of their communities and their country.

MS Uganda has come a long way in enabling our partner organisations in playing a much needed role in democracy.

The past couple of months, new initiatives have been added to this portfolio.

First came the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affair’s large funding of our comprehensive peace and democratisation programme for southern Sudan and the Sudanese refugees in Northern Uganda.

Then we initiated our decentralisation programme in Apac and Koboko.

On top of that, we have just held an encouraging meeting with Uganda Local Government Association, ULGA. The association has contributed to the further development of our Democracy material and wish to work together with us in building the democratic capacities of local leaders. ULGA sees this as a crucial element in the political transformation that Uganda is undergoing these days and months.

We welcome such initiatives for co-operation and will work hard to ensure that they are realised.

Some of our activities and interventions may seem as small drops. But they spread like riddles in the water. And that is the very purpose of them: To step by step create a space where everyone can play a role and take upon his or her responsibility as a democratic citizen.

Ulla Strøbech
Director, MS Uganda